Month: March 2009

Hey everyone, well, the 2009 season is very quickly approaching and I have some exciting internet news! Quoddy Link is now on Facebook and Twitter in addition to Blogger. I’m going to give some explanations on how these new sites will work.

I’m going to start with Facebook, as I am sure that most of you are very familiar with Facebook…it can be quite addictive if you haven’t yet experienced it (I have to thank Jill for pushing me into Facebook). Facebook is officially defined as a “free-access social networking website”. It’s basically a place where you can connect with all of your friends (as far back as you are willing to look) and family by posting messages, photos and videos. There are games and much more but the social networking is really the basis of Facebook. What we have done (Thank You Catherine) is start an open group where anyone can post pictures and videos and share all of their stories from their time aboard the Quoddy Link. So come and visit our Facebook group and share your time with Quoddy Link.

OK, on to Twitter. Twitter has gained major following as of late and it’s a really interesting idea to share some quick news will all of you. Twitter is officially defined as a “social-networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets“. What we can do is share quick posts to let you know what we are seeing on our saily trips out into the Bay of Fundy. It will NOT take the place of this blog, and each post is only 140 characters or less, hence the name “micro-blog”. It will be a great way to follow our daily sightings as you travel if you have a browser-capable mobile. Some visit our Twitter page (there will be more posts when the 2009 season begins) and become our “follower” and read our “tweets” (I’ll try and get the Twitter lingo down).

We hope that these new website are a great way we can share our daily sightings with you but I am even more excited about you sharing your stories, photos and videos with us on Facebook

One last note, for those of you who have been following the 2009 Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Naming Event the voting is scheduled to close on April 6th (may take long if there are any ties, I’m sure there will be). Naming is still in going on for the previously sighted calves, and we have one to name, Six’s 2007 calf so if you have any names, let me know! I have posted a photo below of this young whale. Thanks again for checking in!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to pass some news along, researchers have officially ID’ed 17 humpback whales off the coast of Massachusetts. It’s a little early but it’s great to hear reports from some summer feeding grounds. Last spring, Mustache, a young humpback who is very special to Quoddy Link was sighted off Stellwagen Bank….I’ll keep you posted if Mustache, or any humpbacks we have seen in the past few years are sighted in the southern Gulf of Maine.

A North Atlantic right whale was sedated and disentangled this past week off the coast of Georgia (first sighted on January 14/09, successfully rescued on March 6/09)). This is the first time that researchers have used sedation in the wild and after some smaller does of the sedative they got the right amount to calm and slow the whale down so they could approach and cut the ropes. The full story can be read on CNN and there is video and more photos as well.

This is a first for whale rescuers and is a major step in helping the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. One of the greatest threats to the right whale is entanglement and there have been an alarming number of cases this past winter.

In this photo, the dart containing second dose of sedative has just been deployed. float designed to remove dart (by creating drag in water) is visible just off the vessel’s port bow.

Approximately 230 feet of rope was just removed from the whale by the disentanglement team and the disentanglement team is floating around the rescue vessel.

On a very positive note, as of February 10th, 31 mother/calf were reported from the Southern United States caving grounds! The calf numbers are tied with the 2001 season for the highest number of mother/calf pairs!

Thanks for checking in and check back soon, in a few weeks I will have some new names to our 6 humpbacks from the past season!

Blog Editor Profile – Danielle

I have been working for Quoddy Link Marine since 2002. I graduated from the University of Guelph with an honors BSc. in Marine Biology. I'm in charge of photographing, identifying and recording the whales that we see and sharing that information with Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA and the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station on Grand Manan, NB. It's a privilege to have the opportunity to spend the amount of time I do on the water with the whales, they are absolutely amazing creatures.

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